Harbor District Water and Land Use Plan Public Input Meetings

Take Me to the River. Rendering by Quorum Architects and Ayres Associates.

Milwaukee, WI – April 17, 2017 – Harbor District, Inc. and the City of Milwaukee are hosting two public input meetings as part of the ongoing Harbor District Water and Land Use Plan (WaLUP) process. The meetings are Tuesday, April 25 from 4:00 to 6:30 pm at Independence First (540 S. 1st St.) and Thursday, April 27 from 4:00 to 6:30 pm at the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences (600 E. Greenfield Ave.).

Both meetings are open house style, meaning attendees can come any time and stay as long as they like, and will have the same content at both meetings. Anyone interested in the future of the Harbor District is welcome to attend. For those that cannot attend the public meetings, a survey will be available at www.harbordistrict.org immediately following the public meetings.

Meeting attendees will have the opportunity to view and comment on draft recommendations for new parks, waterfront public access, land use changes, and more. Harbor District, Inc. and the City of Milwaukee have been working with two consultant teams, Gensler and SEH, to develop draft concepts for future development in the Harbor District and are eager for the public to review and respond to the ideas.

Approximately 175 people attended a series of public meetings for the WaLUP in October 2016, with another 255 people responding to an online survey. Feedback from the meetings and survey showed that the highest priorities for future development in the Harbor District were to restore the natural environment of the District, provide new spaces for recreation, and to provide jobs. Harbor District, Inc., the City of Milwaukee, and the consultant teams used feedback and comments from the October public meetings and survey to inform the draft plans being shared at the April 25th and 27th public input meetings.

What is the Harbor District and the WaLUP?

The Harbor District is the neighborhood between the Third Ward, Walker’s Point, and Bay View that surrounds and includes the Milwaukee Estuary (where Milwaukee’s 3 rivers come together and flow into Lake Michigan). The Harbor District includes the Port of Milwaukee, MMSD’s Jones Island Water Reclamation Facility, the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences, many local businesses, 9 miles of waterfront, and a number of vacant sites with immense potential.

While the Harbor District was originally developed and designed to serve industrial Milwaukee, many of the original users are gone and have left behind a legacy of contamination and pollution. As we figure out how to clean up and repurpose vacant properties and polluted waterways, we have a unique opportunity to reimagine a large section of our city. Harbor District, Inc., the City of Milwaukee, and its partners are developing a Water and Land Use Plan (WaLUP) that will craft a vision for the future of the District.

Plan Calls for New Urban Development, Active Waterfront Uses, and Environmental Restoration Within a “Working Waterfront.”

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